The Ultimate Warrior briefly returned to WWE in 1996. He defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania 12 but was gone from the company by that July. Jim Ross recently spent some time on his Grillin JR podcast talking about Warrior’s return to the company and why it was so short-lived.
JR commented on why Triple H was booked against Warrior at WrestleMania 12.
“The deal with Hunter was the fact that he already was a hell of a good worker and we knew that he could take care of Warrior and be in the right place at the right time to not exploit the Warrior’s weaknesses. That’s the mark of a great talent and Triple H is a great talent.”
Jim Ross On Ultimate Warrior/Jerry Lawler Angle
One thing that was brought up was when Warrior conspicuously wore a baseball hat during a segment on RAW. Jerry Lawler was going to hit him with a picture frame during the segment and Warrior evidently wore the hat to protect him from the shot.
“Selfishness. Lack of trust. Lack of understanding,” JR said about Warrior’s decision to come out wearing a hat for the segment. “You’re working with Jerry Lawler for god’s sake. Do you think Lawler’s going to hurt you? No, he isn’t. You think that you’re the first guy to get hit over the head with a framed picture? No, you’re not. But, he influenced his angle because it was convenient for him, and the fact that his balls are small, they’d fit in a thimble, and he decided to basically hijack the angle.”
Warrior then no-showed some events and things fell apart between him and WWE.
“The reason he wasn’t given a bigger push is the lack of confidence. He still was a volatile, combustible talent that you could not really fully trust, ever.”
JR’s comments can be heard in the player below:
